Water fowl is done now it Squirrel time

[papabear]

well water fowl is over for me another bad year for most

BUT NOW ITS TIME FOR SQUIRRELS

can't wait to get out there for some little action with the squirrels

will be getting out there during the week and on the week end it going to be crow hunting

right after that will be getting ready for the fishing

papabear

[shawnhu]

LI?

[papabear]

yes L.I. suffolk have a few spots i hit last year did ok at them

papabear

[shawnhu]

One day I will head on out to LI and do some squirrel hunts. Would be perfect for my Marauder.

[greybeard]

I went out today to try to call some crows...Bad strategy..My grade was a big fat ... F.(failure)

I hunted crows for years on L.I. and only met 2 other dedicated crow guys, I was duck hunting on the river when I met them. I'm glad that your out there keeping it going. I hope that you can post some stories.. What calls do you use ? Decoys ? I mounted one one year that didn't come out so good and used it with my other decoy... We named it JUDAS..

I had a great spot, where lotsa guys hunted, especially with bow for deer, but also quail, and rabbit and there were lots of squirrels and CROWS...I hunted crows there a few times and did o.k.

Then one day I'm having one of those days a crow hunter prays for...They were coming into my calls like locusts(I'm exaggerating, but it was great). So I'm shooting away and here comes a Suffolk Deputy Sheriff driving down the edge of the field, and tells me that I couldn't hunt there. I told him that lots of guys hunted there, but he said it wasn't allowed. It was a VERY pleasant discussion. He was really good about it, and friendly. I left and never went back, but I wondered to this day if he was right.

I know that you fish, do you use the squirrel tails ? When I fly fished, I used to dub the squirrel fur onto fly hooks and use the tails for streamer's etc. Now, I sometimes tie the tails on lead heads for spinnerbaits and I've tied them on kinda like a bucktail (I'm going to make more of them this year). They're easier to get than buck tails for me, and I won't moan as much when the blues tear them up.

Good luck. I hope to read your squirrel and crow stories soon.

[Pygmy]

Things are probably different on LI, with milder weather than we usually get upstate..

However, I have had VERY limited success squirrel hunting here in SW NY after deer season..

Once the cold weather and snow sets in, the squirrels become semi- dormant..They remain more active right in the towns and villages where many people have bird feeders, but out in the hills, they tend to den up, unless you get a real mild spell of weather...

Most years I consider squirrel season pretty much over after Xmas, at least where I live....

[shawnhu]

Interesting. This is what I've been seeing too in Putnum. I thought it was the aftershock of Sandy, but it could just be the snow and high winds lately.

On a side note, I witnessed a city squirrel tearing into a sparrow for a meal. City squirrels - 1. City sparrows - 0.

Edited January 28, 2013 by shawnhu

[greybeard]

Shawn.. If you don't have it yet, you should get the off season permit for hunting all of the the coop lands on L.I.

You need to have it to hunt on coop lands before and after the coop station is open I forgot what they call it, but it's on the DEC website. They have a bunch of rules, but nothing unreasonable, but you have to know them.

I used to hunt there a lot, but haven't in a few years and the rules may have changed, so I'm reluctant to pass on the rules that were in effect when I hunted there.

[greybeard]

Shawn..For squirrels I also preferred earlier in the year.but I have taken them in February down here during milder periods and when there wasn't much snow. I wouldn't go if it was too cold, or even was too cold in recent days.I agree with Pygmy about the cold weather squirrel habits.They can be scarce, or just not moving some days.

there's not much snow on the ground out here unless they got some out in Suffolk today. Nassau really got nothing today, but sometimes the snow comes in weird and further east from me get's different amounts. If you know anyone on this site from Suffolk get in touch with them and ask before you go There could be some snow on the ground in the woods out there.

An acquaintance of mine who used to live in Nassau County, and now lives in Putnam once told me that it was usually about 10 degrees colder up there in winter. I never verified that , but it seems logical to me.

[pistolp71]

Hey Greybeard, was that place that the deputy told you to not hunt off exit 66 LIE?

I hunt crows quite a bit and used to hunt there.

[greybeard]

Pistol.. That's it.. way back behind behind the pd.. I used to hunt south of the tracks, but the day I was told not to hunt I was on the North Side..Guys hunted there a lot, but of course I got no luck so I was the one that was told to leave

[greybeard]

Pistol.. I just went thru all of my back logs to find the date, but my record keeping was screwed up and I mixed crow records with duck records.. I think it was because I got heavy into duck calling and duck hunting around that time and started logging so many waterfowl hunts and kills that I neglected the crow hunting records.. So it was hard to find exactly when it happened, but my GUESS that it was between the years 2000 and 2003 when I was told to leave.I wanted you to know that because it wasn't that recent and my post didn't give the time period.

[papabear]

Yes I hunted that spot for years I was them told I could not that was about 4 or 5 years back I found out two guys placed "NO HUNTING SIGNS" up and they were telling every one to get out I spoke to a D.E.C. officer that I know he told me that it was never closed and you can hunt it That is one of the spots I hunted and I will be going back there again I have a few others I hunt for them at

papabear

[greybeard]

I guess I should have gone back, but I used to see the prisoners working nearby in one of the fields and didn't want to join them.

The Deputy told me that it was County property, as I recall.

I guess I should have checked it out further. I knew that the bow hunters were always there, but just figured it was some county rule about discharge of firearms... I saw lots of squirrels in there back then...Sure would love to be able to turkey hunt there.. there were loads of them.

Years back some guys used to post some property near the coop , and they had no right to it.

Thanx for that info..

[pistolp71]

That's what I figured grey beard. I was told the same thing years ago. It is run by Cornell and is county property. The woods adjacent to that are not the same property.

[greybeard]

Pistol...I didn't know that.. I wish I did then..